


Last and First Fling

by Neverever



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: 890fifth, Alternate Universe - High School, Concerts, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 17:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony’s trip to see a concert ends differently than he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last and First Fling

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [890 Fifth's](http://890fifth.tumblr.com/) eight round prompt: Leaving Home.
> 
> Thanks for my beta.

In the noisy club, the woman in the tight skirt and barely there shirt raked her eyes over Tony, declaring, “You’re cute, but way too young. You look like a handful to me.” She brushed her hair out her face. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to get you into trouble with your boyfriend.”

Boyfriend? Tony swiveled his head around to see Steve in the corner talking to some people and one guy who seemed to be too close to Steve for comfort. A dark thought passed through his mind when that guy put a hand on Steve’s arm. “He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just friends.”

The woman laughed at him. “Sure you are. I’ve been down that road before, kiddo. Catch you later.”

This isn’t how he thought his night was going to go when he snuck out of his family’s Fifth Avenue apartment at the crack of dawn to take a train to Philadelphia to see the hottest Swedish death metal band with Steve. He blew off a family trip to the Hamptons to do this. And there would be hell to pay for it when he got home.

The concert would be totally worth it even if it meant that he would be grounded for the rest of his life.

But now he was stuck in a smoke-filled club being turned down by a hot college girl, and there was some rumor in the crowd that the band never showed up for the gig. At least his fake ids for Steve and him worked to get them in the club. He sidled up to Steve, finagling a space between him and that pushy guy, who was suitably annoyed with Tony.

Gangly Steve, clad in his summer uniform of thrift-store blue shirt emblazoned with a star and no-name tan shorts, smiled at Tony. “Have any luck?” he asked, nodded in the direction of the woman.

“No. She didn’t appreciate my interest in older women.”

Steve laughed. He looked like he’d been made out of parts from different people, his chest and arms thin, faint freckles over his nose, blond hair that never sat right on his head, large hands and clumsy feet. But he had the most brilliant smile Tony had ever seen. “Greg says that the band will be on in a half-hour.”

Tony narrowed his eyes as he looked at Greg the Pushy Guy. He didn’t look good enough for Steve. “Good. Want a beer?”

“Naw, I’m good,” Steve said, flashing that smile that always made Tony feel a little funny in the pit of his stomach.

Steve didn’t start off as one of Tony’s friends. He was friends with Clint, who was friends with Natasha, who was friends with Tony’s bestie Pepper. He showed up like a bolt from the blue at a party over a year ago and somehow wormed his way into Tony’s core group of friends. He even hung out to play video games at Tony’s apartment that one disaster time Tony dared to have friends over. 

Tony never invited his friends over because they might accidentally meet his father. He gambled that one time. They were all having a great time until Howard showed up unexpectedly, disappointment and annoyance flashing across his face. He glared at all of Tony’s friends, especially at Steve sitting on the floor and sporting a big shiner of a black eye.

The party was over, his friends filed out of the apartment under Jarvis’ kind eye, and Howard asked what was up with that scrawny blond kid. Tony couldn’t explain why Steve was always getting into fistfights with bullies and wanting to right the world’s wrongs. This time it was over some idiot stealing some other kid’s textbooks and Steve got involved.

Maybe Steve had a bit of chip on his shoulder, but Steve was the best. Tony might be a little in awe of him.

“I’m going to the bar. Be back.” 

Tony threaded his way through the thick crowd growing more surly by the minute. The opening act had started their set, but no one seemed to be paying attention. Tony sauntered up to the bar, waved his hand to show off the ink stamp announcing he was twenty-one, and ordered a beer. 

His phone rang once, twice, incessantly. He had to take this call from Rhodey. His phone had been blowing up all day with texts and calls from his parents tracking him down. Tony owed him. Rhodey had been a victim of the day.

Tony had to step out of the club to even hear Rhodey. “What’s up?”

“Did you call your parents? They called me three times about you,” Rhodey said.

“Eh. I left a note this morning and I sent a text. I’m fine. We’ll coming back on the last train.”

“Tony, you’ll be back at like two or three in the morning.”

“I’ve got a key to your apartment. Hey, you know I couldn’t pass up this chance to see New Project Hate. They’re only playing a handful of dates in the US and I won’t be in New York when they play there.” In two weeks he was heading to MIT with Rhodey, leaving it all behind him. 

“Ugh, just don’t call me from a jail cell down there.”

“Aw, it’ll be alright, Honeybunch.”

Back inside, Tony looked for Steve. The crowd roiled and seethed around him, a sense of palpable anger in the air. This wasn’t good. A guy talking to his friends ended up yelling in Tony’s ear that the main act had backed out of playing. Picking up on the ugly mood in the club, a worried Tony desperately looked for Steve. 

It was Steve who found him, lost, near the opening act. It was strange to be looking up at Steve now. He’d grown a few inches since Tony met him. The extra height looked good on him, maybe. “Come on, Tony. Let’s get out of here.”

The breath caught in Tony’s throat when Steve put one of his strong hands on his shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“The band won’t go on. There’s a rumor that they want more money or something.” Steve’s voice sounded different, more adult, commanding even. “We should get out of here before the crowd gets worse.”

“Can’t be that bad,” Tony chirped.

Steve looked around them. “A fight is going to break out at any moment.”

“I want to see the band, Steve, I’ve planned this for the past month. You know, I’ve done this before.” Tony was not ready to give up.

Steve grimaced and sighed. “Okay, Tony. But we have to go when I say so, right?”

“Right.” 

Steve somehow had made friends with some art school students. They weren’t impressed when Steve introduced them to Tony. But Tony figured he’d win them over in time. They drank, ate chips and tried to avoid being stepped on by the increasingly angry crowd.

Tony sucked on a piece of ice as he studied the crowd. It felt late. He glanced over at Steve, who kept shifting his glass of soda from hand to hand. Someone from the club got up on the low platform serving as a stage and shouted something incomprehensible.

“We have to go. Now,” Steve announced in Tony’s ear.

Steve stood so close to him, his hand on his arm, his breath warm on the back of his neck. Tony felt a little weak in his knees, a feeling he’d only ever had before around the last hot girl at his school. Damn it, he shouldn’t be feeling that way about good old, solid Steve. “Are you sure?”

They heard the crunch of a glass shattering near by. “Yes, let’s get going.” Steve pushed Tony to move.

Steve blocked him from the crowd with his body, putting himself between angry concert goers and Tony. People were starting to throw whatever they could at the stage. The noise became deafening. Tony kept trying to see what was going on near the stage. 

“Damn it,” Tony cursed. 

“Look out, there’s a bouncer over there,” Steve said, hustling Tony towards the door.

Once outside the club, Tony drew a breath. He was angry about the concert. He glanced up at Steve, who looked relieved. “Are you okay, Tony?”

“Massively, massively disappointed,” Tony spat out. “That is such absolutely bull --”

“We can sort it out later,” Steve said. He pulled Tony back from the door as a police car pulled up. 

“I guess we have to go to the train station now.”

Tony grabbed a coffee and dropped down to sit next to Steve on the hard bench in the waiting area at the train station. “Any news?”

“Yeah, we can take an earlier train,” Steve said waving tickets at Tony.

“Great, just great.” He texted Rhodey the change in plans. Tony was going to lie low at Rhodey’s for rest of the weekend.

Steve was checking his own phone. He put his phone away with a sigh, his face clouded.

“What’s up, buttercup?” Tony asked. He still wasn’t over the disappointment about the concert. 

“It’s Bucky. He’s got a date for reporting for basic training.”

Tony sort of remembered Steve’s other friends. “He’s going into, what, the Army?”

“Yeah, Army, college isn’t for him. I almost signed up with him. But I got the scholarship to Pratt instead.”

That Tony remembered, when Steve won some art contest and ended up with a scholarship. Steve couldn’t stop smiling all week and showed off pictures of his mom in tears next to the painting and the big blue ribbon.

“Wait, why would you want to go into the Army?”

Steve shifted in his chair, crossing his feet at the ankle. “It’s about serving my country. My dad was in the Army and I kind of thought I might follow him sometime.”

“Oh. I guess I understand. After all, I’m going to go work at Stark Industries after my fabulous career at MIT.”

“And your several doctorates.” 

“Hah.”

“Hey, you’re the smartest guy I know,” Steve said, thumping Tony on the back. “You’ll do great wherever you go.”

“Right. When’s that train coming again?”

The good thing was that the train ride was like only a little more than hour or so. Tony sat down in the seat next to the window. Fighting off sleep, Steve sprawled in his seat. His leg rubbed against Tony’s, and Tony had that funny sinking feeling in his stomach again.

The slick sound of train running over the tracks soon put Steve to sleep, his head resting on Tony’s shoulder. But Tony couldn’t sleep.

He stared out the window, seeing only flashes of light in the dark landscape. What the hell was that back at the club with Steve? Steve had lots of friends, so why did he need to shut that guy down? That guy hitting on his Steve.

Tony had always liked girls. Never had a thought about a guy before. He drew in a sharp breath. Okay, maybe he thought about a guy once or twice or more. And poked around looking for gay porn. Just out of curiosity, like everyone else. He had lots of dates during the summer. None of them guys.

He looked down at Steve, his blond head tucked tight against the crook of Tony’s shoulder. He could imagine his blue eyes closed in sleep, those ridiculously long dark lashes brushing against his pale skin. 

The train lurched into Penn Station and Tony was setting up a cab pickup as Steve (adorably) yawned next to him. “Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Tony said.

“Yeah,” Steve said, his voice thickened by sleep.

Tony had agreed to take Steve home first to that tiny apartment in Brooklyn. They were silent on the ride to Steve’s. Steve kept fidgeting until Tony wanted to strangle him. “Stop it, Steve,” he hissed.

“Oh, right,” Steve replied. He turned to look at the window. 

The cab turned down Steve’s street. “Um, Tony?” 

“What?”

“I had a great time today …”

They did have a great time, a fabulous time, until the whole evening went to hell. “Even with the cancelled concert and the rioting crowd?” Tony asked.

“Well, it was with you.”

Tony turned to look at Steve and he realized that Steve was blushing. His heart skipped a beat. Steve leaned forward and pecked Tony on the lips. And the world shook and shifted around Tony.

He sat in shocked silence as Steve pulled back. He clumsily picked up his stuff in the cab.

“Sorry,” Steve mumbled. “I’ve wanted to do that all day, and I’m not going to see you for awhile and --”

Steve had just kissed him. The best and most amazing person in the world kissed him, Tony Stark. “Don’t -- don’t apologize.” 

“Look, I have to go. I’ll see you around.” The cab had stopped in front of Steve’s building.

Steve was almost out the door as Tony quietly panicked. He grabbed Steve’s arm. “You can’t just do that and slink off, you idiot. What was that about?”

Miserable, Steve grew very still and quiet. “I -- I like you. Like like you. And we’re going to college soon, and I didn’t know if you were into guys. I hope you are? Because you’re kind of amazing, Tony. So yeah, I acted before thinking.”

The cab driver broke in. “Hey, who’s paying here?”

“I am,” Tony snapped back. “Give us a second here.”

He took a deep breath and looked into Steve’s blue eyes. A shiver ran down his back. He briefly looked at Steve’s lips and up at his terrified eyes. Tony kissed Steve back. 

“We’ll talk later, okay?” Tony said. “After I find out if my parents are going to kill me for taking off today.”

Relieved, Steve smiled as brilliantly as ever. “Sure. I have work. But, yeah, that sounds good.” He squeezed Tony’s hand.

The cab pulled away and Tony watched through the window as Steve waved, a silly lopsided grin on his face. 

Oh, he could be the death of him. He really could.


End file.
